The following evening Teal sat in bed after a restless day. All the excitement, accomplishments and joys experienced the night before, vanished being able to sleep but a wink that morning. Her head pounded from zombie knows what. It had never hurt before. 

Maybe I am dying? She groaned.

Living too much in one night can do that to a girl, she determined and plopped her head back unto the pillow. Placing the palms of her hands over both eyes, Teal concluded she should've stayed home reading her books in the dark living vicariously through others. She reminded herself that mo-de-ra-tion, baby steps, and no alcohol, would work best next time she went out ... 

If there ever is a next time, she rolled her eyes and swung her legs over the edge of her bed.

Not wanting to get out of her chambers for the rest of her life, Teal analyzed the evening play by play. Frustration set in. She was smart. Smarter than the way she acted, she knew that much. She didn't regret kissing the males, in fact, she regretted not having done it before and wasting so much time. 

That said, with Daniel, she took an opportunity to get a kiss or two under her belt. Erase her inexperience. She had not planned on Marc. Someone who gallantly saved her from the bad, dumb zombie and then dared brand his kiss on her brain. He'd ruined her and the chance any other zombie had at measuring up to the way he kissed her. Teal hadn't expected to be affected differently and was certain she now did not want to experience it with anyone else. 

Even though they hadn't spoken long, their conversation had been witty and funny. He did not mince words and it didn't hurt she found him so damn attractive. Teal couldn't believe she kissed him, not only after he saw her with someone else and intervened, but immediately after her tongue had been down someone else's throat.

Pathetic. I hope I never see him again ... Neither of them.

Until yesterday, she never had. Perhaps that meant both would be easy to avoid. Daniel, more than Mark. Someday she could go back to the club on his days off. Shaking her head she concluded, the first time out had not been her shining moment, but it sure as heck, had been fun.

So much fun. A mischievous smile carved her lips.

Sharing a night with Samantha and Jax had been worth it. It didn't matter if she had an argument with the owner of the only bar around for miles. He was nothing in her life. Nothing to her. She went a little crazy, got drunk, kissed a few strangers... So what? Was that so bad?

Teal rubbed her face with her hand. Yes, it was actually ghastly. 

Especially, when she jumped down Marc's throat after he unselfishly helped her. He didn't deserve that. He'd tried to lend her a hand. It was she, who took advantage of him. Not the other way around. Teal determined it'd be a full year before she ever showed her face out in the open again.

Didn't you want to experience life differently? Stop existing through your human books? Live in the present? She miserably asked herself.

"Teal?" It was her father at the door. They hadn't seen each other since she learned her parent's story, and who she inevitably was.

"Yeah, Dad. Come in."

"Sorry," he began.

Downhearted, Teal lowered her eyes. Watching him struggle with thoughts and words affected her insides. Especially now that she knew who her father had been. A respected scientist. An intelligent man in a past she would never get to know, as her future. 

There were many different levels of intelligence within their community. Most zombies turned into blubbering idiots, using small words and short sentences, no matter how intelligent they had been in the past.

As he stood before her, looking down in shame, Teal realized, the intricate quality of her father's brain and his studies in science were the most frustrating part for him to no longer have. She'd seen it in his eyes before. The long, lost stare. The frustrated shake of his voice when he said, but a few simple words, his quick temper at not being able to articulate to his family, what he meant.

When he lost his mental capacity, an enormous part of himself left with it too. Who he'd been as a human, and who her mother had fallen in love with; an intelligent, eloquent man, no longer existed.

Teal always wondered how her mother remained similar to who she had been, as a mortal woman. Now she knew. Her story finally learned full circle when she recently was told the truth.

"We-Me ..."

"It's ok dad."

Sorrowful eyes looked at her with disappointment. She understood it was difficult for him to express how he felt. There was reasoning in that jumbled brain of his but his coherent thoughts were ghosts of the past.

"I wanted. Sooner. Afraid." He looked defeated.

As her mother had explained, speaking about it years ago, was something they'd wanted but hadn't been able to bring themselves to do. When Teal brought up the subject, she realized now her father would recoil and react. He didn't want Teal to know how smart he'd been, as she faced the carcass of the man, he was today.

Although hurt, she understood they did it to protect her. That, in Teal's eyes, was in itself an intelligent thought no matter what he believed of himself. Her father was a hero, more so now than before.

"I know. There's nothing to forgive. I understand why you did it. I love you, Dad."

She reached her arms out to hug him, taking in his frail body. When they let go, she looked into his earnest, brown eyes with pride, giving him a small smile.

"Dad? I figured out all zombies are not the same," she spoke against his chest.

"What?" His brow creased.

"You know I usually don't go anywhere or have many friends except for Samantha and maybe Yanel."

He nodded.

"I rarely speak with others. You guys are my family and well, it's too easy to notice our differences yet, I mainly see how we are the same." She shrugged. "It's always been known, I take after mom. I thought Jax took after you, and that's that. To be honest, I never thought about our collective differences, only about mine."

She rambled knowing it would be difficult for him to keep up if she didn't make her point soon. The golden short curls, similar to her brother's, bounced on his head as he nodded, attempting to follow the conversation.

"Anyway, last night I observed and confirmed how, yes, most zombies have dull eyes, like yours and Jax. With very yellow scleras. But others, have brighter eyes, like mom. Even if they didn't ingest some sort of serum. Or, can breathe a little, like me!" Her eyes were wide like a child's, in amazement. "It's more of a cold breath but, breath just the same," Teal said more to herself, than her father.

Teal was so excited, she couldn't stop herself from speaking too fast for him. "The point I'm trying to make is, I've observed we don't lose one-hundred percent of our DNA. I know your study was cut short and not given the opportunity it deserved, therefore limited."

Her father listened, interested in everything she had to say. "You, different," he said slowly. "Part human." He pointed at her head, giving a smile.

She nodded. "I also think we're affected by the conditions we are infected by. Whether by birth, or later in life. Even the age we get infected at! Did you know there's a human Doctor that wants to work with us? Help us?"

He shook his head.

"I saw him! At the club last night. On TV. They have a TV dad! I watched it for the first time! I'm so excited!" She clapped her hands in elation and her father laughed.

"Sorry. Contraband."

"I know they're contraband. I have no idea how they got one. Jax should be able to find out. He has a friend that works there, at the club. Actually he's the owner ... Don't worry. Maybe I'll need to go back and get his info. No use asking, Jax." She rolled her eyes. Teal realized she was having a conversation with herself. 

"Who? Doctor?"

"Oh! Hmmm." She thought for a minute. "I didn't get a name, but he made me wish I could cross over to the human side and work with him."

"Did-he?"

"Yes. Do something important with my life. I feel there's a greater purpose for me, and I need to figure it out."

"Dangerous."

Teal nodded. "Yeah, I know," came her small voice. "Aunt Rita's there. She might be able to help? We'd need a phone. Do you know if mom has her old number?"

"Outside, Teal? Skin? Burn?"

"I haven't." She shook her head. "I haven't been brave enough yet dad. The UV rays scare me. I don't know what to do."

"Don't know." He waggled repeating her words.

"I think my mind is set that I will when I find the courage. I don't want to do something stupid, but I think it would be selfish to keep this partial vaccine in my blood."

Javier pointed at himself and looked into her eyes. "Scientist. Inside. Says, yes."

It was so difficult for him to think of words and form sentences. It took him a long time. That's why he'd always been a man of few words, all through her childhood. Jax, on the other hand, did well. Teal concluded that if he was human, he'd still be stupid. He was such a dork. A nice one, but nonetheless a dork.

"Love you. No matter what." He hit his heart with the fingers of his right hand.

"Thanks, daddy. I love you with all my mind. I'll do this for you."

Javier took his little girl in his arms, and she, took shelter in the embrace, holding him tight.

"My, baby! Grown."

She kept quiet, but she really had. In more ways than one.

Music by:
The Ramones*I Want To Be Sedated